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NEWS ITEMS AFFECTING GAY, LESBIANS & BISEXUALS
2007 - January, February, March
Sponsored link.
In the following, "SSM" refers to "same-sex marriage."
News during 2007-January
 | 2007-JAN-02: MA: Massachusetts ConCon: The legislators met again in a Constitutional Convention.
Over two-thirds of the legislature voted for marriage equality; they voted 132
to 61 to defeat the motion. But a 75%
vote is required to stop the process! The amendment will receive its final
review during the next legislative session. If it passes this stage, it will
be placed on the 2008 ballot.
Massachusetts is a curious example of a democracy. Only a 25% positive vote
by legislators is needed to place an amendment on the ballot, and only 50%
plus one person among the electorate is needed to strip away a really basic human
right -- the right to marry -- from an identified group . Atheists, Agnostics,
Wiccans, Satanists, members of other minority religions, and other
frequently despised groups of individuals need to hold firmly to their
rights. They may disappear at any time through the same legislative process. |
| 2007-JAN-02: ON Ontario Court of Appeals creates new family structure:
The same court that authorized same-sex marriage in Ontario in mid-2003 has
modified possible family structures again. They allowed a birth father,
birth mother, and lesbian partner of the birth mother to be recognized as
parents of a child who is being brought up by all three adults.
We have a hunch that this is the first time in North America that a child
has had two mommies and a daddy, all recognized under law as parents. The
court decision triggered outrage among religious and social conservatives.
More info. |
| 2007-JAN-30: Israel: First same-sex
marriage registered: Avi and Binyamin Rose, who were married on 2006-JUN
in Toronto Canada became the first same-sex couple to have their marriage
registered in Israel's Interior Ministry's Population Registry.
More details. |
| 2007-JAN-3i: HI: Civil union bill proposed
for Hawaii: Democratic legislators have proposed a bill to create civil
unions for same-sex couples in Hawaii. They consider it one of their highest
priorities. More details. |
| 2007-FEB-02: U.S.: Results of a survey of Conservative Jews on
homosexuality released: A survey was E-mailed mailed to 18,676
Conservative rabbis, cantors, seminary students, and lay and professional
leadership. 4,861 responded. An additional 722 responded via a web site.
The survey showed that about two-thirds of Conservative rabbis and cantors
believe that the Jewish Theological Seminary should admit gay and
lesbian students for rabbinical study. Results were slightly higher among
lay and professional leadership, and slightly lower among student rabbis and
cantors. Similar results were obtained on the question of rabbis officiating
at same-sex commitment ceremonies. 2
The Conservative tradition within American Judaism is the second largest,
following Reform Judaism who already treat persons and couples of all sexual
orientations equally. More details |
| 2007-FEB-21: RI: Attorney General issues
ruling on SSM: In a major development, Attorney General Patrick Lynch
wrote a ruling that covers same-sex couples who are residents of Rhode
Island, go to Massachusetts to marry, and return to their homes. The ruling
states that they are entitled to have their marriages recognized, and they
are to receive the full set of benefits, rights and obligations that
opposite-sex couples routinely receive. More details. |
| 2007-FEB-23: MA: Teaching about same-sex marriage to continue:
Two families sued the Lexington school district in an attempt to stop them
discussing same-sex marriage in class. Lexington is about 12 miles (20 km)
west of Boston, MA. Massachusetts is one of only two states -- the other
being Rhode Island -- that recognize same-sex
marriage. The parents asserted that the school violated their religious
rights by reading a gay-themed book in class and allowing students to borrow
books that discussed homosexuality. The accused the school as having: |
"... begun a process of intentionally indoctrinating very young
children to affirm the notion that homosexuality is right and normal in
direct denigration of the plaintiffs' deeply held faith."
The book that triggered the suit is "King & King." It describes a
crown prince who rejects a series of princesses until finally falling in
love with another prince. They marry, kiss, and live happily ever after.
Federal Judge Mark Wolf rejected their case, and ruled that public
schools are:
"entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals
of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our
democracy. ... Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly
evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation."
The judge had no choice in the case, because of previous rulings in
similar cases. Also, if he had ruled for the plaintiffs, chaos would result.
Religious liberals would probably sue the school board, complaining that by
suppressing information about the existence of same-sex marriage, the school
board would be violating their liberal beliefs.
A lawyer for the two families said that they will appeal.
3
| 2007-FEB-24: USA: Federal bills concerning
sexual orientation: The Associated Press predicts that the
current Congress is "likely to pass the first major federal gay-rights
bills." Actually, this appears to be an error, because the bills are not
directed at sexual minorities; they cover everyone. They would protect
heterosexuals and bisexuals as much as they would protect gays and lesbians.
Three bills are under consideration:
 | An expansion to the existing hate-crimes
law that lengthens sentences to criminals who are motivated to commit
violent crimes because of racial, gender, religious and other hatred.
The amendment would ad sexual orientation to the list of criteria, and
would give convicted gay bashers longer sentences. |
| The Employment
Non-Discrimination Act, (ENDA) bill to
outlaw workplace discrimination, including hiring and firing, based on
sexual orientation. It may include sexual identity as well. It would
exempt religious groups, thus allowing them to continue discriminating
against sexual minorities. |
| Repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't
tell" policy so that gays and lesbians could freely serve in the armed
forces. The chances of this bill being passed is slim. |
Referring to the first two bills, Matt Barber, a spokesperson for
Concerned Women for America said: "With liberals in control, there's
a good possibility they'll both pass. They're both dangerous to freedom of
conscience, to religious liberties, to free speech." It is unclear what
his reasoning is, because both of the bills refer to actions; the first bill
refers to actions only by convicted criminals. Neither refers to beliefs or
speech.
Even if passed, the bills would face a possible veto by President Bush.
Dave Noble, public policy director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force speculates: "Does he want to use one of his first vetoes to deny
basic job protection to people?" 4 |
| 2007-MAR-01: Canada: Supreme court delivers
another victory to same-sex couples: Widows and widowers in opposite-sex
relationships have benefited by receiving Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefit
payments. In the year 2000, the federal government passed a law granting
benefits also to survivors of same-sex relationships -- but only if the
partner died after 1998-JAN-01. George Hislop launched a lawsuit against the
Federal Government after the CPP denied him survivor benefits after the
death of his partner of 28 years in 1986. The court ruled in a class action suit that
the law was unconstitutional and discriminatory under the equality
provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms -- Canada's
constitution. Survivors can now collect benefits if their partner died after
1985 when --
first guaranteed equal rights to persons of all sexual orientations. About
1,000 people will benefit from this ruling. The cost to the federal
government is estimated to be about $50 to 90 million CDN ($43 to 52 million US) a year
(sources differ). The CPP has assets of about 98 billion. Unfortunately,
Hislop died from cancer in 2005. One of about 1,500 co-petitioners,
Al McNutt from Truro, NS, said: |
"For me it was never about the money, it was more about the equality
and feeling like our relationship was finally recognized."
5
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Massachusetts Constitutional Convention - Live Thread," FreeRepublic.com,
2007-JAN-02, at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/
- Ben Harris, "Most survey respondents vote in favor of gay Conservative
rabbis," Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, 2007-FEB-2, at:
http://www.jewishsf.com/
- "U.S. court upholds same-sex teaching to children," Reuters, 2007-FEB-24,
at:
http://news.yahoo.com/
- David Crary, "Gay rights advances likely in Congress," Associated Press,
2007-FEB-24, at:
http://news.yahoo.com/
- Ottawa 'discriminates' in same-sex pension payments: court," CBC News,
2007-MAR-01, at:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/
Notice:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. sec 107: The news items
contained in the above hyperlinks are provided without profit by the
Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance, PO Box 27026, Kingston ON
Canada K7M 8W5, and are intended to be available to anyone
interested in the topics included, for educational purposes only. Any
editor, author, Webmaster, writer, publisher, news service, etc. that
objects to being part of this listing may request that future works be
excluded. We will also attempt to delete previous entries from the
same source.
Copyright © 2007 by the Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2007-JAN-02
Latest update: 2007-MAR-01
Compiler: B.A. Robinson
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